Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Science fiction/Dystopian)

Linh Cinder is a mechanic in the eastern commonwealth, one of six nations to emerge after a devastating world war. She lives with two stepsisters, Peony and Pearl, and her stepmother Adri. Peony is nice to Cinder, while Pearl and Adri make her life a living nightmare. To make matters worse, Cinder is a cyborg. She was in a terrible accident which resulted in some of her limbs being replaced with robot parts. Cyborgs are heavily discriminated against, and she does all she can to keep that part of her identity under wraps. One day Cinder is working at her booth in the market when the prince of the commonwealth approaches her. He asks if she can fix his android, and after getting over the surprise of seeing a member of royalty in the marketplace, she agrees to have it fixed within a week. Soon after, the marketplace is evacuated because someone has contracted Letumosis, a deadly plague without a cure. Cinder avoids being quarantined by sneaking out of the marketplace. However, when Cinder is scavenging in the junkyard for spare parts, Peony realizes that she has the spots indicative of Letumosis. Peony is taken away to prevent further spread, and Cinder is left to deal with the wrath of her stepmother. Adri believes that Cinder must have given Peony the disease, and so she signs Cinder up to be taken to royal laboratories to have plague cures tested on her. Every subject before Cinder has died, but miraculously Cinder seems to be immune. The head doctor takes an interest in her, and together they begin to discover secrets about Cinder that are so well-kept even she didn’t know about them. These secrets are dangerous, and if the wrong person finds out, it could end up meaning imprisonment, or death.

I really enjoyed reading this book. This book is described as “ a retelling of Cinderella”, and I firmly agree with that. Even Cinder’s name hints toward that fact! It was fun to look for parts of the story that mirrored the original fairy tale and see how the author altered them to fit into a sci-fi setting. The world-building felt really strong in some places, but in others I had more questions than answers. The author developed her characters really well. At times, I found myself almost as upset as Cinder whenever Adri would carry out one of her nefarious schemes! The twists in the plot didn’t come out of nowhere but weren’t extremely obvious either. The descriptions of Letumosis were especially thought-provoking for me since we are currently in a global pandemic. The descriptions, such as how it’s incurable, the necessity of isolation, and mandatory quarantine, sounded eerily similar to the situation our society is currently in. It was interesting to see the idea of discrimination against androids and cyborgs being explored as well. I think that if you’re a fan of retellings or you like books set in a dystopian era, you should give this book a try. If you are looking for a book grounded in fact, or for a fantasy book with magical elements, this book isn’t for you. This book doesn’t have many mature themes, so I recommend this book for ages eleven and up.

Reviewed by Maggie P., 11th